WHERE WE ARE ; COLE WALTER

019

VERONICA STOOD IN FRONT OF OLIVIA'S MIRROR, a smile on her face. She admired the slicked back ponytail Olivia had put her hair into.

"Olivia, this is amazing! If you ever become a hairdresser, I'll be your most loyal customer," she said with a smile as she walked up to Olivia to hug her.

Erin stood beside her, admiring her curls, which were also done by Olivia, "Really Olivia, you have some talent there. Come on, now it's your turn, what hairstyle should we try to do on you?"

The ravenette took a step back and shook her head rapidly, "Oh no, you two won't do anything to my hair, have you forgotten the last time you tried a hairstyle? It was a disaster."

Veronica and Erin looked at each other and together all of them broke into laughter as they remembered the tangled mess that was Olivia's hair when Erin had tried to curl it, and failed; and everything just got worse when Veronica tried to rescue her hair in some kind of way.

"Okay, you might be right there," Veronica agreed as she sat down on the bed. "But at least let me do your make-up, that I can do."

Agreeing, Olivia sat down opposite of her and while Erin scrolled on her phone, Veronica did Olivia's make-up in sweet natural colors that complimented her complexion.

After some time and a few sips from the wine bottle Veronica had brought along (though she didn't drink anything as she agreed to drive today), the girls made their way into the car, giggles leaving their mouths as Erin almost fell down the stairs due to the darkness around them.

The bonfire was magnificent as always, Veronica loved being there.

The atmosphere was relaxed and thanks to the alcohol everyone got along with each other, there was chatter and laughter everywhere and well, from time to time some people disappeared but Veronica didn't really want to think about what they were doing out in the dark.

And the best thing? While Veronica could see Cole, she didn't care about his presence, she happily enjoyed the evening, not once thinking too much of him.

Beer pong was one of her favorites and as she stood, teamed up with Nathan and played against Olivia and Erin she wore a big smile on her face because Nathan and her were winning.

Though, all of their fun was soon interrupted as behind them a fight had begun, or rather two people were close to start a fight.

Running up to the two figures that stood a bit further from the fire, Veronica could soon recognize that the people that were shouting at each other were actually Alex and Cole.

Although she couldn't make out everything that was being said between the two brothers Veronica knew that this couldn't end well, so she moved even closer and finally could hear them.

"You know what Cole?" Alex suddenly exclaimed loudly for everyone to hear, "Why don't you just go back to Veronica and leave me and Jackie alone?"

Everyone looked at Veronica now and as she looked over to them in confusion, it suddenly dawned upon her, they weren't about to start fighting just because they were drunk and because Cole had some feelings for Jackie, right?

"Yeah, I don't think I will," Cole responded, moving closer to Alex.

Alex scoffed and looked away from Cole, "Why? Because you finally fucked up bad enough for Veronica to see what a shitty person you actually are?"

"Actually, no. I won't do it because shouldn't we let everyone know, especially your dearest Jackie, that you just hate my guts and are jealous of me because of Veronica?" Cole looked over to Jackie and then to Veronica. "Look at you, you even brought her into this fight when she had nothing to do with it. Admit it, you always had feelings for her you were just too scared –"

Before Cole could finish this last sentence, Alex hit him in the face, hard. The blond fell back and into a pile of firewood, which hurt him more than the actual punch. Not caring about her situation with him at the moment, Veronica ran up to Cole to check up on him but moved back when she saw the blood on the side of his face.

Cole moved his hand up to the numb area and when he saw the blood on it, he quickly covered the wound, knowing that Veronica couldn't stand the sight of blood.

Meanwhile, Jackie ran up to Alex, grabbing his hand in hers, though he had balled it into a strong fist as he watched Veronica jump so quickly to Cole's aid. Due to his rage he couldn't even hear the words Jackie was practically shouting at him.

"You just had to provoke him, didn't you?" Veronica asked as she kneeled next to Cole and watched Jackie run away, Alex right after her.

The blond just shrugged, "I just told the truth."

Veronica turned to him in shock, "Wait, so Alex had feelings for me? Since when?"

"I thought you didn't want to talk to me anymore," Cole stated as his head began to buzz from the impact on the ground. He wanted to continue talking, to hear her voice but right now, it was too much for him.

Danny came up to the pair and helped Cole walk away, who sighed and finally turned away, after throwing one last glance at Veronica who was too confused to move from her spot on the ground. Only when Erin sat down next to her, did she move into her arms and began to cry, for whatever reason, even though she herself didn't know why the tears were escaping her so quickly; she thought she was over Cole?

BONUS:

"Okay, wait so after everything that happened at the party, you decide that now is the best time to tell me about you and Nathan?" Veronica asked in shock as she had dropped everyone off from the party and was now driving home with a tipsy Skylar.

The boy next to her sighed deeply and looked out of the window. "I thought it would take your mind off of the whole Cole and Alex thing." At the critical look she gave him, Skylar continued, "Okay, I didn't know what to do, you know. Someone writing a song for you is really a lot, I mean we aren't even dating and he's doing that."

Veronica considered his words, "Are you overwhelmed by how much affection he's showing you, or are you actually just worried that you won't be able to reciprocate his feelings the same way?"

Listening to her words, Skylar remained silent for a while, thinking, "I've never heard you say such wise words. Are you on drugs?"

The girl hit him with her free hand and laughed a bit, "I have my moments, you know. But really, think about whether you're just afraid to let someone love you this much or if you're afraid to not be enough for him. Because someone liking you that much, you really shouldn't let that go that easily."

Skylar just nodded and sat back into his seat, closing his eyes as he thought everything over.

HOPE speaks:

and here we go with another chapter and as always, I hope you liked it, because I do.

I think this chap. shows that while Cole and Veronica aren't talking to each other and really not interacting anymore, they still have some lingering feelings and knowing what will happen next, i just gotta say, stay tuned!

lots of love <3